1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a swing trainer for golf and other sports played with clubs, bats, rackets, etc.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Golf has become an immensely popular sport in recent years. Technological advances in manufacturing have made golf clubs more consistent and more inexpensive. The rush of people and thus money to the sport has lead to untold innovations in the manufacture and make up of golf clubs. Cast clubs and large drivers now in use make the sport more accessible to the average player than at any time in the past. However, golf remains to this day a challenging and exacting sport. To play the sport at a certain level requires not only good equipment, but a good swing. Golfers spend an immense amount of time and money in private and group lessons to try to perfect their swing, but golf, more than almost any other sport, remains a game that requires practice to be successful.
The current invention is to a practice device that can be used with or without a ball to help further develop the feel and muscle memory of a proper swing, which can hopefully be transferred to a successful swing on the golf course. A practice club according to a preferred embodiment of the invention has a handle, a shaft and a weight slidably mounted along the shaft. During the swinging of the club, the weight slides from an end near the user's hands to a distal end away from the user. When the weight reaches the distal end, the weight contacts a stop creating an audible “snap,” giving the user both tactile and audible feedback to the success of the swing.
In a preferred embodiment, the weight has an adjustable resistance to control the amount of swing force necessary to slide the weight along the shaft. Preferably, the shaft has a constant diameter instead of a taper towards the distal end to maintain friction between the resistance and the shaft as the weight travels along the shaft.
In other embodiments of the invention, the swing-training device has been adapted to other sports that require accurate swings to generate a high degree of power and consistency. In many of these embodiments, the handle is interchangeable between different sport-simulating handles, such as baseball bat handles, tennis racket handles, hockey sticks handles, etc. However, it is preferred that the handle is fixed on the trainer. Different trainers can have different handles and different shaft thicknesses and weights to simulate the different sports swings.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.